ACCRA OWI2 19WA JUN 4-5 WEST AFRICA’S WELL INTERVENTION CONFERENCE

West Africa’s Well Intervention Opportunities JOHN SHEEHAN

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West Africa’s Well Intervention Opportunities

This report is in three parts: an introduction to the West African well intervention industry, case- studies in the region to highlight and notable service companies that work in the region.

The aim of this report is to give you an introduction to the market or an update if you’re already in the know. CONTENTS PART 1: WEST AFRICAN OFFSHORE ACTIVITY ...... 3

PART 2: WEST AFRICAN WELL INTERVENTION CASE STUDIES...... 4

Egina FPSO project...... 5

Nigeria Oyo-8 RLWI operation...... 6

Bonga Field...... 6

Well Intervention in Algeria – Welltec...... 7

PART 3: WELL INTERVENTION SPECIALIST COMPANIES...... 7

Training ...... 10

OWI WA 2019 ...... 10

Cutting Well Intervention Costs in West Africa PAGE 2 ACCRA OWI2 19WA JUN 4-5 WEST AFRICA’S WELL INTERVENTION CONFERENCE

PART 1: WEST AFRICAN OFFSHORE ACTIVITY

Oil and gas development activities are continuing to heat up offshore West Africa with an increase in production from mature fields creating strong demand for Riserless Well Intervention (RLWI) services in the region.

Figure 1 Offshore Rig Offshore Nigeria

There have been significant deepwater offshore campaigns drilling its first wells in the MSGBC Basin at the Jamm-1 and in Africa’s oil and gas industry in recent years and it is Yaboy-1 wells offshore Senegal and Mauritania respectively. estimated that some $180 million in investment will be Kosmos will target the large Orca prospect offshore pumped into 88 upcoming oil and gas projects in the region Mauritania, while Svenska intends to drill the Atum-1 by 2025. Around a quarter of this investment will be in prospect offshore Guinea Bissau. Nigeria, while other countries in West Africa, such as Ghana This fall in exploration activity is adding to pressure to and Angola, will also continue to be a focus of attention. ensure maximum extraction of oil and gas at existing and From shallow water licensing in Congo Brazzaville, to marginal fields with techniques such as Riserless Light billion-dollar tenders in critical infrastructure, there is a Well Intervention (RLWI). This is proving to be a cost- growing desire by international companies to win licences effective method of intervening in the region’s offshore and operate within the West African oil and gas sector. The wells, using suitable support vessels instead of rigs. The Republic of Congo has an ongoing licensing round, while the higher operating efficiency and lower spread rate of an Republic of Guinea is set to further develop its upstream RLWI system results in a much lower cost per intervention sector in a bid to become a regional energy hub. compared to the use of rigs. Nigeria’s Department of Resources hopes that RLWI can boost output From an exploration and appraisal perspective, Wildcat from 2.2 million b/d currently to as much as 4 million b/d. data show that high-impact exploration in deepwater West Nigeria remains Africa’s largest oil and gas producer and in Africa disappointed in 2018, according to Westwood Global the past decade, industry-wide production from deepwater Energy Group. The only potentially commercial discovery fields has added over 800,000 b/d to Nigeria’s output. was at ’s Kalimba-1 well offshore Angola. There were some high-profile failures, such as Kosmos’ Requin Tigre-1 offshore Mauritania, FAR’s Samo-1 offshore Gambia, and two probably non-commercial pre-salt discoveries at Boudji-1 () and Ivela-1 () offshore Gabon. This year will see limited exploration activity, with Total

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Well Intervention Offshore Ghana

Figure 3 Offshore Ghana Oil Fields Map

There have been many other significant oil and gas will be drilled with the Maersk Viking ultra-deepwater developments elsewhere in West Africa, including in drillship. Aker Energy is targeting approximately 450 million Ghana, where Maersk Drilling is currently using its newly boe (gross). The plan is to develop the Pecan field with built drillship, Maersk Voyager, to provide drilling services a purpose-built FPSO connected to a production to oil companies. Maersk Drilling’s contract from ENI to system at 2,400 meters below sea level. First oil is targeted deploy the Maersk Voyager on the Offshore Cape Three for 2021 at a plateau production of around 125,000 b/d of Points (OCTP) Project in Ghana has been extended to oil. 2022. The OCTP project, located about 60km offshore, Currently, Maersk Drilling have a total of 260 locals features oil and non-associated gas fields, and will access employed in Ghana – 238 offshore and 22 onshore, some approximately 41 Bcm of gas and 500 million bbl of oil. First 55% of the total in-country workforce. Maersk Drilling oil was produced in 2017 and initial gas in 2018, with peak sees West Africa as one of the few regions of the world production planned to be 80,000 boe/d in 2019. The project where there are unexplored areas with huge potential. will provide domestic gas supply to Ghana’s thermal power The company highlights Senegal and Mauritania as really plants for more than 15 years. interesting emerging offshore markets, with the Ivory Another key project awarded to Maersk Drilling is the Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Namibia as other hotspots Pecan-4A appraisal well in the Deepwater Tano Cape going forward. Three Points (DWT/CTP) block offshore Ghana, which

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PART 2 – WEST AFRICAN WELL INTERVENTION CASE STUDIES

In this section we take a look at some of the successful projects that are up and running offshore West Africa, including examples of RLWI.

CASE STUDY: Egina FPSO project

Figure 4 Egina Oil Field. Credit: TOTAL

Total’s Egina oilfield offshore Nigeria began production at proved that the largest industrial projects in the world can the beginning of 2019 and once fully up and running, the be completed in Nigeria. This is a first not only for Nigeria field is expected to produce at a rate of 200,000 b/d of oil, but also for representing about 10% of total Nigerian output. Africa and it represents a remarkable achievement in local The Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit content development in Nigeria. used to develop the giant Egina field is the largest one Total As part of the cost reduction initiative, the Water Injector has ever built. This project has also involved a record level of Christmas Tree installation and testing was carried out from local contractors. Six of the 18 modules on the FPSO were an Offshore Intervention and Maintenance Repair (OIMR) built and integrated locally, and 77% of hours spent on the vessel. That intervention was also designed to gather project were worked locally. Start-up has been achieved information for placement of future wells in what is a highly close to 10% below the initial budget, which represents faulted Egina reservoir structure. The job scope included more than $1 billion of CAPEX savings, due in particular to opening reservoir isolation valves, followed by an injection excellent drilling performance where the drilling time per test to estimate well productivity and interference testing well has been reduced by 30%. to assess reservoir connectivity and fault behaviour. Located about 20km from the Akpo field, Egina covers an The Egina field is located in the OML 130 block, which is area of around 500 square miles. It is situated at a water 150 km off the coast of Nigeria. The field is being developed depth of up to 1,750m. by TUPNI in partnership with the company’s coventurers The Egina project was a successful collaboration between NNPC, CNOOC, SAPETRO, and . LADOL, Total, and several Government agencies and has

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CASE STUDY: Nigeria Oyo-8 CASE STUDY: Bonga Field

Producing hydrocarbons in a deepwater environment Shell’s Bonga field, which started production in 2005, was is quite challenging and the goal is always to sustain Nigeria’s first oil and gas production for as long as possible. project in more than 1,000m of water. Shell used one of the Any shutdown, whether intended or unintended, can prove world’s largest FPSO vessels to tap the field. costly. Such was the case on Oyo-8 offshore Nigeria, The Bonga FPSO has the capacity to produce 200,000 b/d when the down-hole safety valve failed to open after a of oil and 150 MMcf/d of gas and the vessel’s capacity has planned production curtailment. The several attempts to been upgraded in recent years, enabling Shell to unlock open the valve were unsuccessful due to suspected loss of new energy resources. This included the start of production hydraulic communication to the operating mechanism or the at the nearby Bonga North West field, which contributes malfunction of the mechanism, a study produced for OTC 40,000 boe/d at peak production, helping to maintain the 2018 reported. facility’s overall output. A well intervention was therefore deemed necessary Today, 90% of Bonga’s core offshore staff are Nigerian. It to re-enter the well. A vessel based riserless light well was the first project to be executed under the Nigerian Oil intervention (RLWI) operation was determined as the and Gas Industry Content Development Act and supported optimal solution for Oyo-8. the establishment of a local fabrication yard for subsea This entails a through-tubing operation to install a retrofit components, a pipe coating plant and a welding laboratory. sub-surface-controlled safety valve (velocity valve) assembly across the tubing-retrievable safety valve (TRSV) Q1 2017 Intervention Performance to permanently hold open its flapper and serve as a sub- 14 5 12 4.0 surface controlled safety valve. 4 10 3.2

The notable advantages of a vessel-based operation were 8 3 2.4 2.3 the reduced personnel and reduced number of third-party 6 2 NPT Days service contractor interfaces to manage. The rig-up is 4 0.9 Intervention Days Intervention 0.7 1 significantly simpler than the requirements for rig-based 2 1.1 0 0 completion/de-completion operations. Bonga 27 Bonga 24 Bonga 32 Bonga 05 Bonga 17 Bonga 23 Bonga 38

The fact that it is riserless also eliminates the debris AFE (days) Actual (days) NPT (days) management issues usually associated with the marine GOAL Zero Achieved - No Incidents 87 day Operation risers of mobile drilling units. The key components of RLWI are the subsea well-control package, subsea wireline Early well interventions at the field were done by a rig, lubricator, subsea pressure-control head, a compensated but this capital-intensive method was considered too winch mounted on a module-handling tower, compensated expensive during the spell of low oil prices after 2014, and heavy-duty over-side crane, slickline unit, and two work- Shell decided to opt for riserless technology to achieve a class ROVs. more cost-effective solution in this deepwater environment. The RLWI operation was completed by the Island The project was implemented during the first quarter of Constructor vessel within the budgeted time with less than 2017 and involved three stages of work, beginning with 3% non-productive time. temporary well suspensions at five wells. With the tubing disconnected, field support then removed subsea Christmas A carefully planned combined operation with the FPSO Trees for servicing at an onshore maintenance depot. The ensured that control of the Oyo-8 horizontal tree was next stage was acid stimulation, which was applied to maintained during well intervention from the production one well (B-27) to address production problems. It used a topside. The intervention operation achieved the set mixture of acids and other ingredients, with over 1,000 bbl objectives of restoring Oyo-8 to full production within of the acidic mixture pumped to clear the well. This was allotted time and budget without any QHSE incidents. The followed by the final stage of Christmas Tree replacement, RLWI operation was the first of its kind in Nigerian waters. testing and plug recovery.

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CASE STUDY: Algeria well intervention The client chose Welltec’s Well Stroker® 314 XS to free the plug. Welltec’s tools were considered safer and more Welltec plans to implement new technology offshore West suitable than conventional solutions because of e-line’s Africa which it has successfully deployed in Algeria and simpler rig up and the benefits of applying pulling and other regions. During a well intervention operation in a well pushing forces rather than impact forces. in Algeria, as part of a campaign covering reservoir analysis Within two days of the client’s request, the Well Stroker® and surveys, a client installed a 4-1/2” retrievable bridge (including backup) and accessories were mobilised to the plug above a set of downhole gauges. wellsite, where Welltec® successfully dislodged the plug After completing the pressure build-up survey, the plug before pulling it out of the hole. Welltec’s e-line fishing could not be retrieved on slickline, and solution restored access to the well, and the client returned attempts failed at retrieving or displacing the bridge plug. the well to production. The whole operation took three days The attempts did manage to equalise the plug but also to successfully retrieve the plug. The Well Stroker’s ability to damaged the plug’s fish neck. After 25 days of unsuccessful anchor and provide maximum pull directly at the plug was attempts with deferred and reduced production, the client key to the success of this operation. reached out to Welltec for a solution.

PART 3 - WELL INTERVENTION SPECIALIST COMPANIES

In this section we highlight some of the well intervention companies which are successfully operating in the offshore West Africa oil patch.

Enpro Subsea

Figure 5 Enpro Subsea FAM Technology

Enpro Subsea has a strong track record in the Enpro has also seen its Flow Intervention Service (FIS) and Ghana, where its patented flow access module (FAM) technology used to complete hydraulic intervention technology was selected by BP, LLOG and Tullow, with 41 projects across multiple subsea wells in West Africa, and FAMs now being adopted by operators globally. has ongoing subsea operations with a North Sea operator decommissioning its gravity based concrete structures. FAM creates an enhanced production ‘USB port’ within the jumper envelope, enabling the use of standard Xmas Trees Enpro’s FIS systems deliver multiple scale squeeze and fluid and Manifolds, with the FAM providing life of field flexibility intervention processes including acid stimulation, chemical within the system design. injection, scale removal, pipeline pre-commissioning and flowline clean and tubing washes and are suitable to a range FAM enables a range of enhanced production options of water depths. including water cut metering, flow assurance, hydraulic intervention and fluid sampling, allowing the Operator to adapt the technology within the FAM to suit the needs of the reservoir.

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NOV The company developed the industry’s first subsea rigless stimulation system and has performed dozens of successful Throughout every region in the world and across every deepwater interventions over the years. area of drilling and production, National Oilwell Varco (NOV) Oceaneering remediates migrated sand and removes scale, provides rig technologies, wellbore technologies, completion wax, paraffins, and asphaltene formations to restore a and production solutions with the right technical expertise, positive productivity index. The company has successfully advanced equipment and operational support necessary for stimulated subsea wells in up to 6,700 ft (2,042 m) of water. efficient operations. When it comes to innovative tooling solutions, Oceaneering NOV has a long, outstanding history of manufacturing has an industry-leading portfolio of subsea intervention advanced drilling equipment tooling—including a proprietary tool (WST) and rapid access tool (RAT)— that provides reliable access packages to solve the industry’s operational challenges. The to wellbore. company also offers its deep expertise to help minimise risk, increase uptime and improve performance in drilling During mechanical LWI, proprietary equipment and tool operations around the globe. designs enable increased recovery while reducing costs in a wide range of subsea scenarios. NOV designs new technology and robotics that deliver increased automation, and is building new fabrication And, Oceaneering uses fit-for- purpose wireline tractors, facilities to shorten lead times. milling, and logging tools, and gauge rings to perform a wide range of tasks such as subsea well and infrastructure And the company’s training programme offers to assist diagnostics, sliding sleeve intervention, remediation on its clients close the industry’s generational gap in a way of damaged wells, plugging and abandonment and . developing smarter, more advanced drilling solutions for all types of land and offshore environments. In Marine and Construction, NOV products include jacking, WILD WELL CONTROL skidding and fixation systems along with machinery for mooring, anchor handling, and deck handling. Wild Well has expanded its Montrose facility at South Ferryden, UK, enabling it to provide its services on a global From fluid control systems and tubular inspection services, basis. It responds to an estimated 80% of the global well to downhole products and automation solutions, NOV is control market. Wild Well also offers well integrity audits a true partner that helps control costs, react quickly and which will identify concerns or issues with the – maximise productivity. such as corrosion, inoperable equipment, leaking scenarios, etc. OCEANEERING Based on the issues, the audits can prioritise the wells needing attention. The teams will also review the well sites and conduct preliminary planning should a relief well be needed. With advanced engineering services, atmospheric (gas) dispersion modelling can be conducted, identifying possible concerns during an event such as evacuation of populated areas. In the event of a fire at the well site, advanced engineering can model radiant heat to determine possible threats to other assets. At Montrose Port, Wild Well has a product known as the WellCONTAINED™ subsea containment system that provides the most comprehensive package of subsea emergency response services in the offshore oil & gas industry. Figure 6 Oceaneering Rigless Intervention System The equipment is staged in a ready-to-deploy state and includes full subsea well intervention systems, including a subsea capping stack, debris removal shears, hardware kits Oceaneering has serviced and repaired over 5,000 pipelines for the subsea application of dispersant and inhibition fluids worldwide with its technologies and reliable solutions that and other ancillary equipment. minimise environmental impact and restore production quickly.

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INTERWELL TIOS

Since 2012, Interwell has been working on a ground- TIOS UK LIMITED (formerly Island Offshore Subsea, jointly breaking approach to permanent well abandonment of oil owned by TechnipFMC and Island Offshore) is the Group´s and gas wells. The goal of the project is to create formation- global entity that performs all vessel based Light Well to-formation barriers across multiple strings of pipe using Intervention (LWI) services ranging from Riserless Wireline wireline as the deployment method. based intervention (RLWI), Riserless Coiled Tubing (RLCT), Plug & Abandonment (P&A), Pilot hole / top hole drilling, This technology has the potential to replace today’s Downhole Technology. expensive and time consuming practice of cement plugs. The technology development is currently focusing on Single TIOS has a track record of approximately 600 subsea wells, Casing Solutions and the company has completed 16 plug resulting in significant increased production from many of settings in 11 different wells. Patents have been secured in these. And, the company also provide products and services Norway, Europe, Eurasia, China, USA, and similar approvals with focus on Increased Oil Recovery (IOR) through the use are expected in other key countries. of Light Well Intervention (LWI). Interwell has also launched a product known as Matrix Platform Plug (MP), a new plug series. It is a short plug with a relatively small element expansion and is meant for applications above well restrictions. It is qualified according to the ISO 14310 international standard. This cost effective bridge plug has over 20 years innovative experience applied to its design. Another interesting innovation from Interwell is the Medium Expansion Retrievable Bridge Plug (ME), a high performance bridge plug /packer which features a solid elastomeric element, a robust anchoring module and an internal junk extension. This technology is ideal for Figure 7 TIOS LWI Vessel applications; well control barrier, packer for injection valve, fixed choke, slim design (small OD/large ID), equalise and The operations are performed from a monohull vessel and retrieve with standard GS in a single operation (no prong via specialised downhole tooling. TIOS operate 3 Light Well required). It can be run on slickline, e-line, coiled tubing and Intervention (LWI) vessels designed and built for maximum pipe. efficiency and operability.

WELLTEC EXPRO Welltec has proven to its customers that higher recovery With a specific focus on offshore, deepwater and other and safer, more sustainable operations can be accomplished technically challenging environments, Expro provide a range without increasing costs. of mission critical services across three key areas: Well Test Welltec’s latest development, the Flex-Well, is analogous & Appraisal Services, Subsea, Completion & Intervention to horizontal drilling for what it can bring to the oil and gas Services, and Production Services. Expro has enhanced its industry. The Flex-Well® provides the opportunity for the cased hole services offering by signing a global agreement operator to diversify his capital expenditure either through with downhole video and camera technology specialist reduction or by maintaining and drilling more wells. Capex Vision iO. Expro is recognised as a key provider of reliable can be reduced per well due to smaller rig sizes being downhole video technology to the oil and gas industry required, fewer rig days to drill and complete, less services through its downhole video (DHV) range. This includes the needed, comprehensive yet simple completion hardware, ViewMax, high temperature and standard memory cameras. and fewer platforms required. The company’s suite of camera technology is successfully deployed in a wide range of operations including casing and well integrity monitoring, downhole inspection, operational verification and production monitoring for both on and offshore wells globally. Vision iO’s fish eye colour camera technology visually logs the whole well in one seamless high resolution image, providing a 185/360º view of the entire wellbore. This is achieved without switching from front to lateral view, supported by a large internal 128 GB storage capacity - allowing 24 hours continuous recording.

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FTAI The company’s trainers have a wealth of knowledge, having worked in the field, in the office and in training, across FTAI Offshore has acquired and developed over $17 billion the world. They are also passionate about helping people worth of infrastructure assets, with an extensive working develop their situational awareness of specific well-related experience in building and managing successful companies problems using simulators, as well as team building, and projects. leadership and decision-making skills. The company also provides its clients with project With the right training and coaching, comes improved management, engineering and provides marine platform morale, grater staff retention and lower incident rates, all to support a wide range of service offerings including of which have a massive impact on a company’s reputation well intervention; SURF; offshore construction support; and bottom line. inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM); remote operated CEO and founder of Train2Develop, Jeanne Boles, will be vehicles; diving and survey services. FTAI Offshore operates presenting at OWI WA 2019 (4-5 June, Accra), giving you a fleet of modern, DP-2 and DP-3 vessels that have unique tools and methods that will enhance cohesion within successfully completed projects in Southeast Asia, the your team and improve your overall campaign results. Middle East and West Africa, including: Well Intervention, Offshore Construction Support, Work- and Observation- Class ROV Operations and Support, Air and Saturation OWI WA 2019 Diving Support, Umbilical Installation and Subsea Well Tie- in, Survey Submarine trenching. If you would like to learn more about the latest technologies from all of these companies and hear exclusive case studies to help improve your next campaign, register for the OWI WA 2019 conference. The OWI WA 2019 conference allows operators to hear first- hand case studies of recent campaigns within the region. Presenters will explain the main challenges faced during the campaigns and how they solved them. For Well Service providers it gives them the opportunity to showcase their products and services to local and international operators. It also informs them of the main challenge’s operators are facing and what operators need Figure 8 FTAI Subsea 88 vessel from service providers to improve overall efficiency.

Please contact Will Hurl at [email protected] for more TRAINING information.

As oil and gas operations evolve across Africa, the training of local engineers, technicians and other staff is becoming more and more critical. Many operators and service providers under-perform during their offshore campaigns due to the workforce lacking the right experience. Train2Develop is a newly established technical and non- technical training provider who specialise in tackling cultural and managerial issues in the region. The company specialises in training and coaching individuals and teams who work in the drilling and well intervention service lines of the oil and gas industry. Train2Develop provides both technical and non-technical training and coaching, on location and in classroom environments.

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